In Search of a Party.

It is amusing to see the bewilderment of the merely partisan Press in the chaos of these times. When the alarm was sounded that the Union was in danger, political organizations were shivered in an hour. The Democratic Party, the Republican Party, and all the little asteroids and aerolites that went skirring through the political heavens, were dashed to pieces, and from the fragments up rose one great, solid, impregnable and overwhelming Union Party, joined together by a common spirit of patriotism, cemented by a common love of country and impelled by a common resolve for its preservation. Old prejudices and animosities were forgotten, old platforms smashed to pieces, old associations broken up. Men everywhere hailed each other as brothers in the great cause of saving the Republic from the dangers that menaced it.

This sudden revolution, of course, took away the occupation of the partisan Press, and deprived partisan spirit of all its thunder. Political organs, with their lack of principle, began to see in the perspective a possible lack of bread. It was one thing to lead a party and feed upon its patronage, and another to move in harmony with a whole people, intent upon one great purpose and moved by a common impulse. The one required cunning, a spirit of intrigue, and a plentiful lack of principle and of patriotism. The other a frank love of country, and an earnest desire to serve it in the hour of peril. The one implied a devotion to party, irrespective of everything else -- a submission to party usages, and the enforcement of party drill. The other a fearless discharge of every duty, and a self-sacrificing devotion to the interests of the Commonwealth. Hence it is easy to understand why mere political partisans and the party Press should be confused and astonished by the new order of things.

Among all the party organs, none seems to be so beset as the Albany Atlas and Argus. The habit of ministering to secession had become chronic, and, therefore, the necessity of a change of front was almost a visitation. It labored under the delusion that, because the Democracy was for awhile silent, therefore, Democracy was with it in its devotion to the interests of what it was pleased to term our patriotic brethren of the South. But when the thunders of the bombardment of Sumter aroused the North, and the Democracy stood even with the foremost in defence of the Union, the Atlas opened its stupid eyes in the very extreme of bewildered amazement. It sounded its party notes at its fiercest and highest pitch, but nobody responded. It prophesied, but nobody believed, -- it piped, but nobody danced.

"My son," said a descendant of St. Patrick, to the heir of his principles and his stick -- "take this shelalah, and wherever you see a fight, go in -- wherever you see a head, hit it. You may not always be right, but it is better to be sometimes wrong than too late at a shindy." In the spirit of this legacy, the Atlas had been in the habit of hitting every Republican head that it saw. The intensity of its partisanship hurried it into every fight. It broke heads and had its own broken with a gusto charming to the admirers of Donnybrook fair. But with this outburst of patriotism, came a dearth of such employment. It struck out at Republicanism, but its stick clove the air, for Republicanism had vanished. It exhorted the Democracy, but Democracy was lost in the ranks of the moving millions. The current of patriotism swept past it, without one sign of sympathy, or one word of greeting. It was too necessitous to stand still and too fearful to go boldly forward. It could not resist the onward rush, but it had no stomach for the patriotic movement. Hence it lags in the rear of the column, professing to be of it, but whispering discouragement in the ears of the timid, and discontent into the minds of the halting. It dare not follow its instincts, through fear of the charge of being a traitor. And it dare not manifest a reputable zeal for the Union, through fear of the charge of inconstancy, or of being denounced as a hypocrite. Hence it is a patriot under protest, and goes with the popular movement to the first corner. It labors under the hallucination that there is a Democratic and a Republican Party, and prates about sectional issues, while treason is mining beneath the Government and cannon are pointed at the Capital. Still it is so much in advance of what it was a month ago, that it may yet make the discovery that platforms and parties, and political organizations, in this State, at least, belong to history.

We are continually improving the quality of our text archives. Please send feedback, error reports,
and suggestions to archive_feedback@nytimes.com.